Follow UsOn July 25 (Friday), Joe Root went past Ricky Ponting to become the second-highest run-getter in Test cricket. He scored 150 against India in the fourth Test in Manchester, thereby also bringing up his 38th Test century.
Root, who has 13,409 runs in Tests, is only behind Sachin Tendulkar's tally of 15,921. Can Root beat the Little Master's record? His teammate Ollie Pope certainly thinks so. “He’s not a massive one for milestones,” Pope said at stumps on Day 3.
"But that’s a cool one - second most Test runs. I’m sure he was aware. The way he’s batting, I’m sure he’ll be driven to be No. 1. He’s got the hunger.”
No batter has scored more runs than Root since 2022, smashing 3,878 runs at an incredible average of 54.61. He has 15 tons and 13 fifties in this period as well.
If he keeps this up for the next 3-4 years, he would certainly have a crack at breaking not just Tendulkar's runs, but also register the most centuries (51) in the format, a record the Indian batting maestro holds.
In the ongoing Test in Manchester, England are currently 544/7, and lead India by 186 runs with Ben Stokes (77*) and Liam Dawson (21*) at the crease.